the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, according to sources Downs Tree Service received $37,500 to cut down more trees on the Schedler Park Property thats ontop of the on top of the $99,000 they already received.
More Trees to Get the Ax On Schedler Park Property
14 thoughts on “More Trees to Get the Ax On Schedler Park Property”
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Why is the town always using downs Trees company. Did this go out to bid. Is someone in side working for him like in the past.
No doubt the money trail will uncover something about Downs Tree Service that is repugnant to Village taxpayers! Given they’ve now been awarded $150,000 in sweetheart “no bid” contracts for Schedler, shouldn’t the light be shone on this? This blog used to investigate stuff like this scam. But no more… why? Knudsen got your tongue?
140k clearing cost does not include the 143k + expected cost to build the berm. That’s almost $200k for a mere strip of Schedler.
Watching the VC meeting. Susan K.’s scripted questions and rehearsed/prompted Village staff answers are getting old.
Apparently, no one is interested in doing business with the Village of Ridgewood. Downes tree service was the sole bidder, yet again, to be awarded the contract. Downes Tree annual collect is mid-high six figures on Village bids alone. I guess it’s pennies to other contractors.BS!!!
So, Susan Knudsen made sure to wash her hands of the disaster that’s about to come by saying all this is in line with the Ad Hoc Committee’s recommended plan. Susan emphasized that the committee included members of the immediate neighbor. Don’t believe the hype, 3 of her lap dogs doesn’t represent the neighborhood. None of them were qualified to design and create a park plan with historical significance.
they use Downes becuz Downes lives in town and he puts the Cmas tree up every year gratis…
I think we should hire a private investigator to look into this. What else is this company doing for the village of Ridgewood. And why is it on with them. Who is getting the kickbacks. Someone is. Especially in the past. There’s a lot of dirty business going on in this village. And we the taxpayers are paying the bill.
Something dirty is going on.
Why isn’t Boyd asking tough questions about this at VC meetings? Is it because he was a huge Knudsen supporter?
Not on this subject, but if you’re planning to”follow the money” Lan company is an even bigger no bid–which is technically not correct because some company offered a contract thousands and thousands of dollars cheaper than Lan–because they bid only on true NEEDS– and were turned down. Lan was actually paid by the “Powers that Be” to look over the schools and see what we can possibly spend money on (actually stated as “determination of what is needed in our schools.”) So Lan wrote up every single thing they could possibly dream up and declared it all needed (for all we know they even added in old fashion pencil sharpeners and “Bouquet of chalk” so they could cover every thing imaginable to man). The first Honest Company was rejected because they fulfilled the demands of the bid while Lan was totally off the wall. “Money Makes the World Go Round” must have been written for Ridgewood. But try to trace it!
Downes been doing the Christmas tree ever since current Council majority got elected…
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Downes has been DONATING their services for the Christmas tree in Ridgewood FOREVER (not just with the current council).
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Susan is correct in one thing–there actually were a few neighbors who congregated at Isabella Altanos before she died. They only wanted to save the house and were violently opposed to any sort of athletic uses being there. They wanted to “Save the house” at all costs though Isabella kept telling me that “a historical restoration does not need to comply with handicap accessibility.” As an architect , she must have known better. This group had apparently decided that Schedler would be a perfect place for walking trails and peaceful contemplation with a minimum of trees (dead and those that needed to be removed to clear the trails) and absolutely NO athletic involvement. No one knew of a possible use for the house (some organization was apparently asking for use of the house but didn’t want to pay for any of the necessary repairs). All the group asked was for the house to be restored–though only approximately 4 or so rooms were original and the rest the typical additions which all went up a step or down a step (handicapped accessibility was not a concern) as old houses always did when additions were made. That location was already toxic because of the fact that it is bordered by Rt 17 N and the addition of soil that the developers needed to dispose of has made it probably unusable–though I don’t think any health evaluations (given for the toxicity of crumb rubber) were going to checked as they totally ignored anyone who saw problems with the crumb rubber.
Nothing will happen. During my not so long time of living in RW I have learned that very little that REALLY concerns common good gets done and shady deals are a common thing. LAN or Downes receive such preferential treatment and nobody is able to answer why. Sorry but the fact that Boyd and James both have no criticism of current heads of VC shows me that the attacks against previous regimes seem just a conflict between fractions and not a sincere concern about well being of this mess of a town. Those who have connections in this place can make lots of money.